Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," they will be called "children of the living God."
(Hosea 1:10 TNIV)
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OK. I don't really get it. God says, I'm done with you. I'm through. You're no longer loved, you're no longer mine. It's over. Finished. Caput. Then in the next breath he says, but you are my people. I'm gonna bless you and make you plentiful. It reminds me of what he will say to Judah, (that big brother down south) a couple hundred years from now.
Let's fast forward in time a little bit...
Imagine yourself a lonely traveler on the road heading from Jericho to Jerusalem. It's a war torn land. All the wells have been stopped a few years back to keep the invader from having easy access to water. Combine that with the foraging done by the Babylonians when they did arrive and there is nothing. The land is desolate.
And off in the distance heading towards you is a dust cloud. Thinking it is the army and not wanting to be pressed into labor you quickly get off the road. From the vantage point of a nearby hill you see that it is the army... well, kind of. There are some soldiers but far outnumbering of them are captured Hebrews. This is the beginning of the forced resettlement of an entire nation. Marching in a bedraggled line are thousands of thousands of beaten, downtrodden men and women and children. They are little more than slaves in chains.
Then a few miles off in the distance, you see someone shouting something from horseback. You cannot hear what he is saying though you strain. Apparently he is shouting out something he has written in front of him. After a bit he finishes up and starts galloping in your direction. It is the oldest son of Shaphan, a former advisor of the last great king, Josiah. What is his name again?
Never mind, it looks like he is stopping a few hundred yards beyond you at the next hill on the far side of the road. Listen...
"A letter! From the prophet Jeremiah! Hear the words of the Lord! For seventy years I am sending you as captives to Babylon! Do not fight against this yoke! Rather than grow bitter, find jobs! Build houses! Marry and have children! Do not seek the harm but rather the well being of Babylon and it's people!"
As he reads out the letter something inside of you boils with rage. These Babylonians are an evil people. They sacrifice their children in the fire. Their city is a cesspit of filth and all kinds of unspeakable evil. You have seen the product of what the army does moving through a village. You can see around you the result of this war on the land. You can see before you the atrocities they do to the people themselves. The Babylonians do not just conquer land. They destroy cultures. They take the best and the brightest for themselves and then move almost everyone else to various distant lands to ensure that there will never be a threat from that people group ever again.
But the speaker is not done. He says something that breaks you from your reverie. It grips you deep in your soul and a tear comes unbidden to your eye. After a pause, with deep emotion in a faltering voice he says it again...
" 'For I know the plans I have for you.' Says the Lord, 'they are plans to prosper you and not to harm you. They are plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call to me and I will hear you. You will seek and find me when you seek with all your heart."
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That verse (Jeremiah 29:11) is one of the most often quoted in the Bible. It is almost as often misunderstood. I so often hear it quoted right before someone says something along the lines of "God wouldn't let something like that happen to me." It just makes me cringe.
It was during the captivity that the richness and depth of what is now the Jewish people were born. Before that they were simply a people serving what they knew as their tribal God (Yahweh) often in conjunction with many of the other local tribal gods. Time and time again they tried to imitate the nations around them. Time and time again they played the prostitute against God.
This captivity was a good thing. It is what made them who they are. And it was promises like Jeremiah's and the one Hosea gave at the top that gave them the hope to endure that purifying fire.
Jezreel. I've talked about the cultural connotations of the name. But it literally means "God scatters" or "God plants". It has to do with the way a farmer would evenly sift the grain along the field. It is so rich in meaning. God is taking Israel (and later Judah) and removing them from the comfort of their home (the bag) where they have crowded together and is scattering them among the world.
That is the plans of prosperity God has for us... for me. He is taking me away from the safety and comfort of what I know, what is secure, and is scattering me among the world. Now I am no longer protected. The rain will beat me down. The sun will break me open...
